By Christopher Cox Thursday, May 26, 2005. Dude, what's my co-pay? If Blue Cross of California has its way, the wannabe Jeff Spicolis of the world may land in the ER hurt, but they won't be uninsured.

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The company recently launched Tonik, a health plan geared for the age 19-29 , X-Games crowd. Accessible through Internet sites such as medicoverage.com, Tonik is packaged with large doses of snappy graphics and Left Coast verbiage ("$#!@ that hurt!'' is the title of one section of the plan; read "The Skinny'' to find out "What's up with Tonik?'').

"There is a huge, underserved market out there, with a considerable amount of uninsured in that age bracket,'' said Eric Scheinbaum, the CEO of medicoverage.com, an insurance agent. "There is a misconception from that group that insurance is way too expensive.''

Nationwide, some 13 million people in their 20s don't have insurance. It's a group Tonik labels the "Young Invincibles.'' That is, until the first ACL surgery.

"You have that mind-set, `What's going to happen?' '' said Scheinbaum. In his case, it was shattering his knee while playing basketball, resulting in $40,000 worth of medical bills - a potentially ruinous financial disaster. Luckily, the Hermosa Beach businessman, now 33, was already covered; his mother had insisted he have a health-insurance policy.

According to Scheinbaum, about half the initial calls about Tonik come from parents, not their progeny: "A lot of parents want to make sure their kids are insured. They have a little more foresight.''

Blue Cross of California offers three low-cost, high-deductible Tonik packages - Thrill Seeker, Part-Time Daredevil and Calculated Risk Taker - ranging from $64 to $123 per month for dental, vision and medical.

So far, the plan is available only in California.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts offers several high-deductible plans. Though the monthly premiums for nongroup singles can run about $150, which is more than Tonik, there are richer medical benefits, such as maternity coverage, according to BCBSM spokesman Chris Murphy.

Dude, what's maternity? And how soon before can I snowboard again?

Source: The Boston Herald